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Irish is one of the three Goidelic languages,
the others being Scottish Gaelic and Manx. This Goidelic branch
together with the Brythonic branch (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) form
the Celtic language family. These are spoken in parts of the Ireland, Britain and France.

Some common features of the Celtic languages which strike
learners as odd are:

'mutations': sounds change, often at the beginning of words, as
part of the grammar, e.g. cat 'cat', but mo chat
'my cat'

Pronunciation guide

There are three major dialects in Irish, named for the three
provinces in the north (Ulster, major cities Derry and Belfast),
west (Connacht, major city Galway) and south (Munster, major cities
Cork, Limerick, Waterford) of the island. The eastern province,
(Leinster, major cities Dublin, Kilkenny), no longer has its own
distinct dialect. The Caighdeán Oifigiúl (kaigh-DAWN iffig-OOL,
official standard) has been in place since the mid-20th century
after spelling was 'regularised' (to an extent). This is the
official Irish that appears in phrasebooks and in Government
publications. It is largely the same as the Munster dialect, with a
very few exceptions). There are great differences in pronunciation
between the dialects, with Munster differing the most from the
other two. eg 'tá go maith', 'yes indeed' is pronunced 'TAY guh
MAIGH' in Ulster but 'TAW guh MAH' in Connacht and Munster. There
are also differences in the phrases used in everyday speech. In the
phrasebook below, the Munster phrase has been used except where
indicated. The conjugation of verbs, too, differs from dialect to
dialect. Munster uses a contracted form in the past and present
first person and in the third person of all three tenses. For
example 'tá mé' ('TAW MAY', I am) is 'táim' ('TAW'm') in Munster,
and 'bhí mé' (VEE MAY, I was) is 'bhíos' (VEE-us) in Munster.

a

like 'o' in "cod"

á

like 'aw' in "flaw"

e

like 'e' in "peg"

é

like 'ay' in "hay"

i

like 'i' in "tin"

í

like 'ee' in "heel"

o

like 'u' in "bud"

ó

like 'o' in "home"

u

like 'u' in "bud"

ú

like 'oo' in "cool"

note

vowel combinations/diphthongs in Irish (e.g.
'Gaeilge,
'seachtain) are slightly rounded
and pronounced in the back of the mouth without using the lips at
all. (e.g. 'Gaeilge' should not, strictly speaking, be pronounced
with a w after the g.) Thus, correct pronunciation can be obtained
only from imitating spoken Irish, but the pronunciation guide given
here is an adequate enough approximation in that by using it, you
will be perfectly understood by any Irish speaker.

Consonants

Consonant combinations with h are sometimes written
with a dot (séimhiú, shay-VOO) on the letter instead of the
h and are sometimes silent. Consonants have two versions
called caol (narrow, palatalized) and leathan
(wide, unpalatalized); this is indicated in writing by adjacent
vowels.

b

like bed

bh

like W sound when a broad consonant (A,O,U) follows; Like a V
sound when a slender consonant (E, I) follows.

c

like kid

ch

as in Scottish 'loch'

d

like dog but sometimes slightly softer, like
the Icelandic ð or th in them,
often like the English 'j' when followed by an 'e' or 'i'

like th in 'the', or occasionally like
t in 'tin', depending on its placement in the
word. Sometimes pronounced as the English 'ch' in China, when
before 'e' or 'i'.

th

like hear

Common diphthongs

Diphthongs are generally irregular and can be learned only by
experience. eg, 'ai' in "Corcaigh" (the city and county of Cork) is
pronounced like the 'i' in "dig" but the 'ai' in "faic" (nothing)
is pronounced like the 'a' in "hack", and the 'ai' in "haigh!" (hi!
(transliteration of a loan-word)) is pronounced like the 'i' in
"high".

Phrase list

There are differences in the phrases used in everyday speech in
the different provinces. In the phrasebook below, the Munster
phrase has been used except where indicated. The conjugation of
verbs, too, differs from dialect to dialect. Munster uses a
contracted form in the past and present first person and in the
third person of all three tenses. For example 'tá mé' ('TAW MAY', I
am) is 'táim' ('TAW'm') in Munster, and 'bhí mé' (VEE MAY, I was)
is 'bhíos' (VEE-us) in Munster.

'Sea (SHAA; note that there is no real translation for
yes and no in Irish - the words here literally mean 'it is'. People
usually use the question verb again in their replies, in the
positive or negative, in the same tense, voice and person as the
question was asked.)

Harris said he'd had enough oratory for one night, and proposed
that we should go out and have a smile, saying that he had found a
place, round by the square, where you could really get a drop of
Irish worth drinking.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted
above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any
numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See
instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

most translations in ‘people collectively’ only mention one
person, which would be a translation of Irishman or Irishwoman, not of "the Irish"

The translations below need to be checked and inserted
above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any
numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See
instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Irish Gaelic is spoken as a daily language by around 60,000
people living in the 'Gaeltacht' or Irish-speaking areas of
Ireland. According to the Irish census, over 1.5m people in Ireland
can speak it and over 300,000 use it daily. Irish is also spoken by
a number of people in countries which accepted lots of Irish
immigrants. The 2000 US census returns included 25,870 U.S.
residents who speak Irish Gaelic at home.

Irish is a Celtic language with over 1,500 years of written
history. It was an important religious language in the early middle
ages because of the importance of Irish monks in learning and
religion in Europe. It began a gradual decline with the Norman
invasions, followed by 900 years of foreign rule, where it was
condemned as a second-class language and replaced by French and
shortly afterward by English as the language of administration and
politics.

Since Independence in 1921, there have been numerous programs by
the Irish government to bring Irish back as the spoken language of
the country, however each one has been met with failure as the
numbers speaking Irish as their daily language continue to
decline.